Book picks similar to
Mystery Stories by Elizabeth Peters
mystery
short-stories
mystery-suspense
egypt
Miramont's Ghost
Elizabeth Hall - 2015
Only one person knows the truth: Adrienne Beauvier, granddaughter of the Comte de Challembelles and cousin to the man who built the castle.Clairvoyant from the time she could talk, Adrienne’s visions show her the secrets of those around her. When her visions begin to reveal dark mysteries of her own aristocratic French family, Adrienne is confronted by her formidable Aunt Marie, who is determined to keep the young woman silent at any cost. Marie wrenches Adrienne from her home in France and takes her to America, to Miramont Castle, where she keeps the girl isolated and imprisoned. Surrounded by eerie premonitions, Adrienne is locked in a life-or-death struggle to learn the truth and escape her torment.Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, this hauntingly atmospheric tale is inspired by historical research into the real-life Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
The Man in the Picture
Susan Hill - 2007
In the apartment of Oliver's old professor at Cambridge, there is a painting on the wall, a mysterious depiction of masked revelers at the Venice carnival. On this cold winter's night, the old professor has decided to reveal the painting's eerie secret. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, and become the victim of its macabre beauty.By the renowned storyteller Susan Hill--whose first ghost story, The Woman in Black, has run for eighteen years as a play in London's West End--here is a new take on a form that is fully classical and, in Hill's able hands, newly vital. The Man in the Picture is a haunting tale of loss, love, and the very basest fear of our beings.
Bones on Ice
Kathy Reichs - 2015
The daughter of a wealthy and influential Charleston family has been missing on Mt Everest for three years. Presumed dead, her remains had been irretrievable until an earthquake caused her body to move down the mountain.The family want only one person to identify her remains: Tempe Brennan.Though reluctant to take the case, Tempe soon realises that the girl did not die of natural causes. It seems the victim was murdered and all her fellow climbers fall under suspicion.But which one is the killer? And if Tempe gets too close to the truth, will they kill again?Also gives readers the first chance to read the opening chapters of Kathy’s highly anticipated new Temperance Brennan novel, Speaking in Bones, out in July.
The Broken Girls
Simone St. James - 2018
There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . . Vermont, 2014. As much as she's tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past--and a voice that won't be silenced. . . .
The Bone Garden
Tess Gerritsen - 2007
But whoever this nameless woman was, and whatever befell her, is knowledge lost to another time. . . . Boston, 1830: In order to pay for his education, Norris Marshall, a talented but penniless student at Boston Medical College, has joined the ranks of local “resurrectionists”–those who plunder graveyards and harvest the dead for sale on the black market. Yet even this ghoulish commerce pales beside the shocking murder of a nurse found mutilated on the university hospital grounds. And when a distinguished doctor meets the same grisly fate, Norris finds that trafficking in the illicit cadaver trade has made him a prime suspect. To prove his innocence, Norris must track down the only witness to have glimpsed the killer: Rose Connolly, a beautiful seamstress from the Boston slums who fears she may be the next victim. Joined by a sardonic, keenly intelligent young man named Oliver Wendell Holmes, Norris and Rose comb the city–from its grim cemeteries and autopsy suites to its glittering mansions and centers of Brahmin power–on the trail of a maniacal fiend who lurks where least expected . . . and who waits for his next lethal opportunity.
The Winter People
Jennifer McMahon - 2014
The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter.Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara's farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that has weighty consequences when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished. In her search for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary hidden beneath the floorboards of her mother's bedroom. As Ruthie gets sucked into the historical mystery, she discovers that she's not the only person looking for someone that they've lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.
65 Proof
J.A. Konrath - 2009
Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thrilller series (Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, Shaken, Stirred, Rum Runner, Last Call) offers a gigantic 180,000 word collection of sixty-five previously published short stories from the thriller, horror, and comedy genres, including many from his award-winning series.Stories to make you laugh, scream, cringe, think, scratch your head, and roll your eyes. This collection has something to please every type of Kindle reader, and is an inexpensive way to get introduced to the author and his work.Contents include:INTRODUCTION by JA KonrathJACK DANIELS AND FRIENDSOn the Rocks - Jack Daniels solves a locked room mysteryWhelp Wanted - Harry McGlade becomes a dognapperStreet Music - Phineas Troutt hunts a prostituteThe One That Got Away - The Gingerbread Man's last victimWith a Twist - Jack Daniels solves an impossible crimeEpitaph - Phineas Troutt avenges a deathTaken to the Cleaners - Harry McGlade goofs offBody Shots - Jack Daniels at a school shootingSuffer - Phineas Troutt as a hitmanOverproof - Jack Daniels discovers what is stopping trafficBereavement - Phineas Troutt as hitmanPot Shot - Herb Benedict gets shot atLast Request - Phineas Troutt meets his matchPlanter's Punch - Jack Daniels meets Tom Schreck's Duffy DomborwskiTruck Stop - Jack Daniels meets Taylor from AFRAID and Donaldson from SERIALCRIME STORIESThe Big Guys - flash fictionThe Agreement - very nasty noirA Fistful of Cozy - a satire of the cozy genreCleansing - a crime of biblical proportionsLying Eyes - solve it yourselfPerfect Plan - solve it yourselfPiece of Cake - solve it yourselfAnimal Attraction - solve it yourselfBasketcase - hardboiled horrorUrgent Reply Needed - how to deal with spammersBlaine's Deal - parody of hardboiled noirThe Confession - horrific noirHORROR STORIESFinicky Eater - nuclear holocaust and cannibalsThe Screaming - Van Helsing livesMr. Pull Ups - body modification horrorThe Shed - some losers find the door to hellThem's Good Eats - rednecks vs. aliensFirst Time - a tender coming of age storyForgiveness - the genesis of evilRedux - ghost story noirThe Bag - what's in the bag?Careful, He Bites - lyncanthrope flash fictionSymbios - sci-fi horrorA Matter of Taste - zombie flash fictionEmbrace - gothic fictionTrailer Sucks - gross out goreMarkey - psychological horrorPunishment Room - horrific suspenseShapeshifter's Anonymous - funny paranormalSERIAL - with Blake CrouchDear Diary - a dip into madnessThe Eagle - early horrorA Sound of Blunder - with F. Paul WilsonFUNNY STUFFLight Drizzle - parody of hitman storiesMr. Spaceman - science fiction satireDon't Press That Button! - essay on James BondPiranha Pool - comedy about writingWell Balanced Meal - gross out humorA Newbie's Guide to Thrillerfest - essay on writing conventionsInspector Oxnard - parody of mysteriesAppalachian Lullaby - radioactive monkeysOne Night Only - humorous sto
A Study in Scarlet Women
Sherry Thomas - 2016
But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London. When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her.But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.
The Haunting of Gillespie House
Darcy Coates - 2015
Hidden near the edge of the woods and an hour's drive from the nearest town, its dark rooms and rich furniture entice her to explore its secrets. There's even a graveyard hidden behind the house, filled with tombstones that bear an identical year of death.If only the scratching in the walls would be quiet… The house’s dark and deadly history quickly becomes tangled with Elle’s life. At the center of it is Jonathan Gillespie, the tyrannical cult leader and original owner of the house. As Elle soon learns -- just because he’s dead, doesn’t mean he’s gone.
Murder at the Mena House
Erica Ruth Neubauer - 2020
. . Egypt, 1926. Fiercely independent American Jane Wunderly has made up her mind: she won't be swept off her feet on a trip abroad. Despite her Aunt Millie's best efforts at meddling with her love life, the young widow would rather gaze at the Great Pyramids of Giza than into the eyes of a dashing stranger. Yet Jane's plans to remain cool and indifferent become ancient history in the company of Mr. Redvers, a roguish banker she can't quite figure out . . .While the Mena House has its share of charming guests, Anna Stainton isn't one of them. The beautiful socialite makes it clear that she won't share the spotlight with anyone--especially Jane. But Jane soon becomes the center of attention when she's the one standing over her unintentional rival's dead body.Now, with her innocence at stake in a foreign country, Jane must determine who can be trusted, and who had motive to commit a brutal murder. Between Aunt Millie's unusual new acquaintances, a smarmy playboy with an off-putting smile, and the enigmatic Mr. Redvers, someone has too many secrets. Can Jane excavate the horrible truth before her future falls to ruin in Cairo . . . and the body count rises like the desert heat?
Call Mr. Fortune
H.C. Bailey - 1920
A young doctor with a sluggish work ethic and a passion for sweets, Fortune is at his happiest when tending to an old man’s illness or curing a poor boy’s broken leg. When a call comes in alerting Fortune that the archduke has been found unconscious in the road, he hurries no more than he would for a regular patient. But as he discovers when he inspects the lord, this is a most irregular case. The archduke lives—but another man has been murdered in his name. This collection of six puzzling stories introduced the world to Reggie Fortune, a remarkable detective whose rotund frame conceals a razor-sharp mind and a fighting spirit. A true champion of the oppressed, Fortune will never let a murderer escape justice—whether his victim was royalty or the lowest of the low. Ths ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth
Sarah Monette - 2007
Ghosts, ghouls, incubi: all have one thing in common. They know Booth for one of their own . . .
The Black Tower
Louis Bayard - 2008
The name strikes terror in the Parisian underworld of 1818. As founder and chief of a newly created plainclothes police force, Vidocq has used his mastery of disguise and surveillance to capture some of France’s most notorious and elusive criminals. Now he is hot on the trail of a tantalizing mystery—the fate of the young dauphin Louis-Charles, son of Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI. Hector Carpentier, a medical student, lives with his widowed mother in her once-genteel home, now a boardinghouse, in Paris’s Latin Quarter, helping the family make ends meet in the politically perilous days of the restoration. Three blocks away, a man has been murdered, and Hector’s name has been found on a scrap of paper in the dead man’s pocket: a case for the unparalleled deductive skills of Eugène François Vidocq, the most feared man in the Paris police. At first suspicious of Hector’s role in the murder, Vidocq gradually draws him into an exhilarating—and dangerous—search that leads them to the true story of what happened to the son of the murdered royal family. Officially, the Dauphin died a brutal death in Paris’s dreaded Temple—a menacing black tower from which there could have been no escape—but speculation has long persisted that the ten-year-old heir may have been smuggled out of his prison cell. When Hector and Vidocq stumble across a man with no memory of who he is, they begin to wonder if he is the Dauphin himself, come back from the dead. Their suspicions deepen with the discovery of a diary that reveals Hector’s own shocking link to the boy in the tower—and leaves him bound and determined to see justice done, no matter the cost. In The Black Tower, Bayard deftly interweaves political intrigue, epic treachery, cover-ups, and conspiracies into a gripping portrait of family redemption—and brings to life an indelible portrait of the mighty and profane Eugène François Vidocq, history’s first great detective.
Tales of the Black Widowers
Isaac Asimov - 1974
Professional men and their waiter. They gather at the Milano Restaurant once a month for good food and good conversation. But lately the Black Widowers have added a new entertainment to their meetings. They have begun to solve mysteries, murders, and conspiracies of seemingly impossible dimensions.With all the skills of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot combined, these six men and their ever-faithful waiter, Henry, take on challenging cases that will tease your deductive skills to the limit and keep you guessing to the very end.Contents:* The Acquisitive Chuckle* Ph as in Phony* Truth to Tell* Go, Little Book!* Early Sunday Morning* The Obvious Factor* The Pointing Finger* Miss What?* The Lullaby of Broadway* Yankee Doodle Went to Town* The Curious Omission* Out of Sight
The Shell Game
Janet Evanovich - 2014
Find out how FBI Special Agent Kate O’Hare and con artist Nicolas Fox first met in this exclusive eBook original short story! Con man Nick Fox is after Garson Klepper’s golden Peruvian relics. For Fox, convincing Klepper to hire him as security for the relocation of the relics to the Getty museum in L.A. was easy. Problem is, Fox wasn’t planning on Klepper also enlisting the help of the FBI. Fox also wasn’t planning on being paired up with rookie special agent Kate O’Hare. She’s smart, she’s tenacious, and when she’s conned, she holds a grudge. Life for Fox and O’Hare will never be the same again. The Shell Game is a prequel to the riveting series from Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg.